Lowney's Cook Book / Illustrated in Colors

by Maria Willett Howard

PICKLES

Sweet pickles are prepared from every fruit that can be preserved. Spices are generally tied in a muslin bag and kept in the pickle jar, and the sirup is rich in order to preserve the pickle. Sour pickles should always be cooked in granite or agate-ware kettles, and if desired green, put on to cook in cold vinegar and brought gradually to the boiling point. Alum added to the pickles keeps them crisp.

Sweet Pickled Watermelon

• 4 cups vinegar
  8 pounds sugar
  4 tablespoons cinnamon sticks
  4 tablespoons cloves (whole)
  watermelon

Cut skin from watermelon; cut rind into small pieces about two inches square; cover with water and cook until tender. Boil sugar and vinegar ten minutes; add spices tied in a bag, simmer until sirupy, about two hours; add melon and simmer one hour. Fill jars and seal.

Sweet Pickled Pears

• 6 pounds pears
  3 pounds sugar
  2 cups vinegar
  4 tablespoons cloves (whole)
  ¼ cup mixed spices

Wash pears, but do not pare. Stick the cloves into the pears. Make a sirup of sugar and vinegar; add spices, when boiling, add a few pears at a time and cook until tender. Fill jars and seal.

Sweet Pickled Cantaloupe

Prepare in the same way as [Sweet Pickled Watermelon], substituting cantaloupe.

Sweet Cucumber Pickle

Soak the cucumbers in a brine for two weeks; drain, and slice lengthwise. Cook in a sirup made by cooking six pounds sugar and four quarts of vinegar; boil twenty minutes. Keep in tightly covered crock.

Pickled Cucumbers No. 1

• 100 small cucumbers
  2 pints salt
  1 quart small peppers
  8 quarts water

Boil water and salt together; pour over cucumbers and peppers. Let stand over night; in the morning drain. Make a new brine, using same proportion; repeat this process twice, then drain and wash cucumbers and peppers in cold water. Place cucumbers and peppers in crock; cover with boiling vinegar.

Twelve whole cloves and twelve peppercorns may be tied in a bag and kept in the pickle jar.

Pickled Cabbage

• 4 quarts chopped cabbage
  2 cups chopped onion
  1 cup chopped peppers
  salt

Arrange cabbage, onion, and peppers in layers in an earthen crock; cover each layer with salt. Let stand over night; in the morning drain; then arrange cabbage, onion, and peppers in layers, with cloves and mustard seeds. Cover with cider vinegar; let stand twenty-four hours.

Pickled Cabbage and Celery

• 2 quarts chopped cabbage
  1 cup sugar
  ¼ cup celery seed
  2 quarts chopped celery
  ¼ cup salt
  ¼ cup mustard seed
  3 quarts vinegar

Cook all ingredients until cabbage is tender. Keep in stone crock.

Pickled Cucumbers No. 2

• 100 cucumbers sliced
  30 small onions sliced
  salt
  olive oil
  vinegar
  mustard seed

Arrange cucumbers and salt in layers and let stand over night. Arrange onions and salt in layers and let stand over night. In the morning drain; put a layer of cucumbers in an earthen crock, cover with olive oil and mustard, then a layer of onions, and so continue until all are used. Cover whole with cider vinegar; let stand covered closely for two months, when it is ready for use.

Pickled Tomatoes

• 2 quarts chopped tomato
  2 cups chopped horse-radish
  2 cups chopped celery
  ½ cup salt
  1 tablespoon clove
  1 cup chopped onion
  ½ cup chopped peppers
  ½ cup mustard seed
  ½ cup brown sugar
  1 tablespoon cinnamon
  4 cups vinegar

Mix all ingredients; stir every morning for a week. Keep in a cool, dark place.

Mustard Pickle

• 4 cups vinegar
  ¼ pound mustard seed
  ¼ pound horse-radish
  ½ pound mustard
  1 cup brown sugar
  1 cup chopped green pepper
  2 tablespoons turmeric
  1 pint button onions
  4 cups sliced cucumbers
  4 cups sliced green tomatoes
  4 cups cauliflower flowerets
  2 tablespoons celery seed

Boil vinegar, spices, and sugar five minutes, add remaining ingredients, and simmer until thick. Keep in crock in cool place.

Chow Chow

• 1 medium-sized cauliflower
  12 green peppers
  12 cucumbers (small)
  2 cups small onions
  2 cups salt
  4 cups vinegar
  1 teaspoon cayenne
  2 quarts boiling water
  3 tablespoons mustard

Peel onions and cook twenty minutes. Drain and cool. Arrange cauliflower, broken in small pieces, cucumbers, peppers and onions in kettle. Cover with brine made of salt and water. Let stand two days. Drain thoroughly, then cover with vinegar, cayenne and mustard. Boil slowly one hour. Keep in Mason or Lightning jars.

Piccalilli

• 4 dozen small cucumbers
  3 quarts small green string beans
  4 red peppers
  4 green peppers
  ¼ cup mustard seed
  2 heads cabbage
  2 heads cauliflower
  1 teaspoon ginger
  1 teaspoon pepper
  1 teaspoon mace
  vinegar

Tie spices in a muslin bag. Chop the vegetables, cover with salt and water, let stand over night. Drain thoroughly, cover with hot vinegar, add spice bag, and let stand until the next morning. Reheat vinegar and pour over pickles; do this for three days, then keep in earthen crock tightly covered.

Pickled Walnuts

Run a needle through soft walnuts; cover with strong brine of salt and water; let stand in brine for a week, draining off brine every day, and covering with fresh brine. Then drain and wash walnuts, cover with vinegar, boil ten minutes, add a bag of spices, cover closely, and keep in cool place three weeks.

For bag of spices, mix four tablespoons each of whole cloves, peppercorns, mace, celery and mustard seed.

Chili Sauce

• 2 dozen tomatoes finely chopped
  1 dozen onions finely chopped
  1 dozen red peppers finely chopped
  1 cup brown sugar
  3 cups cider vinegar
  ¼ cup salt

Mix all ingredients, add more salt if needed, and boil slowly until thick. Keep in air-tight jars.

Chutney

• 4 cups sliced sour apples
  8 cups chopped green tomatoes
  4 cups chopped raisins
  1 shallot chopped
  ¼ cup salt
  2 onions chopped
  4 cups brown sugar
  1 quart vinegar
  1 inch ginger root
  1 teaspoon cayenne

Mix all ingredients and cook gently all day. Cool; then boil hard five minutes, stirring constantly. Fill sterilized jars and seal.

Tomato Ketchup No. 1

• 24 ripe tomatoes
  6 onions peeled
  6 green peppers
  ¼ cup salt
  ¼ cup brown sugar
  2 tablespoons ginger
  2 tablespoons cinnamon
  2 tablespoons mustard
  6 cups vinegar

Peel tomatoes, and cook all ingredients six hours, stirring often. Pour into sterilized bottles and seal.

Tomato Ketchup No. 2

• ½ bushel tomatoes
  2 tablespoons mustard
  2 tablespoons ginger
  1 tablespoon cloves
  1 tablespoon allspice
  2 tablespoons pepper
  3 quarts vinegar
  2 cups alcohol
  3 cups brown sugar
  1 cup salt
  2 lemons finely chopped
  cayenne pepper

Cook tomatoes one hour; press through a sieve; add all ingredients, except alcohol, and cook until thick; boil one minute; add alcohol, and bottle. The cooking will take six or eight hours; stir occasionally to keep from burning.

Mushroom Ketchup

Arrange layers of mushrooms and salt in preserving kettle; let stand on back of stove for twelve hours. Press through a sieve. Measure. For each quart of mushroom liquor add one pint vinegar, one tablespoon salt, two tablespoons each of cloves, allspice, mace, and mustard seed. Boil until thick, then bottle.

Cucumber Ketchup

• 3 large cucumbers
  1 large onion
  2 tablespoons grated horse-radish
  2 tablespoons salt
  2 cups vinegar
  2 tablespoons pepper
  1 teaspoon paprika

Grate cucumber and onion, add remaining ingredients, boil five minutes, bottle, and seal.

Rhubarb Wine

• 8 pounds rhubarb
  grated rind of 4 lemons
  8 quarts water
  6 pounds sugar

Chop the rhubarb; add lemon rind and water; let stand three days. Strain, add sugar, pour into crock, cover with muslin, let stand for two weeks. Cover tightly, at the end of a month it will be ready to bottle.

Grape Juice

• 6 pounds grapes
  3 cups cold water

Wash and mash grapes; add water and boil ten minutes; strain. For every quart of juice add two cups sugar. Boil sugar and juice eight minutes, bottle and seal while hot.

Red Pepper Relish

• 8 quarts red pepper
  2 quarts vinegar
  4 pounds brown sugar
  1 teaspoon salt

Remove seeds from peppers; cut peppers in narrow strips, using scissors. Cover with boiling water, keep on back of range ten minutes, but do not boil. Drain, cover with ice water, and let stand ten minutes. Repeat this process twice. Boil sugar, vinegar and salt twenty minutes. Drain peppers, pack sterilized jars with peppers, add sirup to fill jars. Seal and keep in cold place.

---

CHAPTER XIX
CHAFING DISH DELICACIES

The chafing dish is composed of the blazer and hot water pan, set in a standard with a small lamp underneath. Some lamps have an electric attachment, but alcohol is the fuel most used. The best alcohol is the most satisfactory, although many use wood alcohol.

Every kind of dish which is usually prepared in a saucepan or double boiler can be made in the chafing dish, but ordinarily oyster, mushroom, fish, egg, and cheese dishes are the ones most popular.

When preparing for a chafing dish supper, arrange the chafing dish on a tray, have the lamp filled, and matches at hand. A wooden spoon or regular chafing dish spoon and a wire whisk are convenient and really necessary utensils. It is well to have all the ingredients measured and neatly arranged on a tray. If butter is to be used, butter balls, each representing a tablespoon, are a convenient and attractive way in which to serve it.

If toast is to be used, have the bread cut in small rounds or triangles and toasted a golden brown. It should be kept hot until ready to be used.

Light the lamp and have the water boiling before the supper is announced, then the compounding of the dish may be done quickly.